Tonight in my warmer; Spa!

 It's laundry day again! Keeping up with "Fresh Sunday" theme, I'm melting Spa.
Spa arrived with my Ecoscents order that I recieved with Amazon.com a few days ago. Like the other tarts, these were also purchased with a free with a gift card I had handy.
The manufacturer  is called "Our Own Candle Company" they have a website here; http://www.ourowncandlecompany.com
I looked for a scent description but it is not listed. Perhaps it has been discontinued? I's a little hard to tell. This website is NOT very user friendly and is hard to navigate.

Only 4 cubes.

They package their "Melt'ems" in a plastic clamshell just like Ecoscents except there are 4 breakable cubes instead of 6. Each cube is larger, but there is less wax total. I would guess the entirety is about 2.5 ounces compared to 3. These tarts are also incredibly oily, so my guess is that they are  made from soy. (Suprisingly it is not written on the package)

Size comparison of the cubes.

Please note in the photo the tarts and packaging look awful. This is not the fault of the manufacturer. These were sitting in my mailbox for a while, and I live in hot Los Angeles.

As for the scent; it is absolutely beautiful! It's bright and fresh, with a little zip, perhaps lemon grass or lemon zest? The throw is pretty good. I have no idea what the notes are, but the closest thing I can associate it with, is a lighter version of Yankee's Ocean Water and a splash of citrus.

Pros; good throw. AMAZING scent.
Cons; Small amount of wax, lame website, possibly discontinued.
Overall; 9/10
 I love this scent, it's bright and cheery and perfect for a happy Sunday.

I let the wax cool to emphasize the beautiful color

My Current Project

Current area I'm working on

My mother used to do a lot of cross stitching in our living room when I was a child. Now I do it as well, but not nearly as often as I would wish. I get home from work about 8 in the evening, by the time I've washed up and had something to eat my eyes just don't want to focus on points so small. It's not until the weekends that my cross stitching gets some love.

I've been working on the same one for not quite a year, and I'm hoping that writing about it will get me motivated to see it finished. I am considering giving it to my grandmother as a gift. She really likes birds and the design is right up her alley.

Without hoop, I will iron it after its compleated.

Any experienced Cross Stitchers out there with advice, tips or tricks?

My working order right now is flowers and leaves (satin stitch first), birds, sign in the center, and detailing at the end.

Recipe of the Day 07/02/11!

In many American homes meatloaf  was a staple meal Mom used to make, it certainly was in my childhood home. Now that I'm grown, I love it as an inexpensive comfort food.
I went to Allrecipes.com to find the best meatloaf recipe they had to offer and chose "Rempel Family Meatloaf"  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/rempel-family-meatloaf/detail.aspx 

Phot from Allrecipe.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup crushed buttery round crackers
• 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons steak sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Stir the ground beef, crushed crackers, Cheddar cheese, and onion soup mix in a large bowl until well combined. Whisk the eggs, ketchup, and steak sauce in a separate bowl until smooth. Mix the eggs into the meat until evenly combined, if the mixture seems too dry, add a little water. Press into a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven until the meatloaf reaches 160 degrees F (71 degrees C) and is no longer pink in the center, 45 to 60 minutes.  

 The recipe did not disappoint! It has a strong savory onion flavor which I love. There might have been a little too much liquid for my loaf, because when I went to cut it, it fell apart. On the flip side of that, the meat was moist, not dry at all. This recipe is a keeper, I will make it again.

My photo

I accompanied my meatloaf with corn on the cob, broccoli with cheese, and a french baguette.

Bath and Body Works Review; The Citrus Collection!

 Bath and Body Works is currently previewing their Citrus Collection in store. This collection consists of Apple Blossom Citrus, Peach Citrus, and Pomegranate Citrus. Peach Citrus is the brightest and sweetest of the 3.When it first goes on, the sweetness can almost be overbearing. It reminds me of a Capri Sun flavor I used to drink as a kid, kind of like a combination between a tropical scent and Skittles. Of all the reviews and opinions I've read, Peach Citrus has a slight lead ahead of the other two.

Pomegranate Citrus is the heaviest of the three. It still has that candy sweetness, but with a generic berry scent. In the bottle it smells like a zesty berry that explodes once you put it on. Pomegranate Citrus is much better after the berry calms down some. It's not quite a floral type scent when it dries, but it's close.

Apple Blossom Citrus is the last scent in the collection, and is probably my favorite of the three. Apple Blossom is a great name for this one.  The top note is a zesty green apple type with a sweet pretty floral coming in underneath. The dry down is definitely my favorite. The apple fades away, and floral stays behind. It is sweet, but not quite as strong as the Pomegranate Citrus, and far behind Peach Citrus.

Pros; Something fun and new to try
Cons; Super sweet and candy like
Overall; 4/10
The Citrus Collection is way too sweet for me, although it would be great for a young girl or teen. I will probably use Apple Citrus the most  because I like the dry down so much.

Tonight in my warmer; Amber Romance!

Hooray! My Ecoscents melts came in today! They came from Amazon.com because I wanted to pad an order for the free super saver shipping.
I also had a gift card, so they actually ended up being free!  The official website is www.myecoscents.com. They sell for $3.49 each and the website has 4.95 flat rate shipping.
The melts are 3 ounces total, divided into 6 cubes and packaged in a plastic clamshell. They are made from soy and are much softer than other tarts I've tried, which is nice, but when I break off a cube, my hands feel oily.  I feel like I need to wash my hands after touching them.
Amber Romance is described as; "Seductive. Alluring. Romantic. Exotic. A lush and romantic bouquet of blackberry laced with warm, sensual undertones of sandalwood, vanilla, and musk in a scented melt."
 The scent is actually a lot like cookie dough, which must be the sandalwood and vanilla, because                                                                   I can't detect any blackberry.

I used 2 cubes to make it consistent with the size of most other melts.  The throw is pretty weak. But the smell is soft and pleasant.

Pros; nice sweet scent, i love the packaging
Cons; weak throw, cubes are oily
Overall; 6.5/10

I really this, but the throw is a major factor for me.

Tonight in my warmer; Wedding Day!

During the Semi Annual Sale, Yankee Candle sells both tarts and votives for the same price of $1.  Which is strange because a tart is 0.8 ounces and the votive is 1.75 ounces. I'm not quite sure why they sell twice the wax for the same price. There is no difference in texture, scent or appearance between the two.

So I decided to pull out the wick and use the votive in my warmer instead.  The flat metal piece underneath the candle is very close to the edge, and is easy to wedge out with a butter knife. I probably could have gotten it out by hand if I had tried. (I didn't really want wax under my nails).

Pulling out the wick

If you cut the votive in half, it would be roughly the size of a Yankee tart. Since I have a large electric warmer, and partly because I'm lazy and didn't want to have to wash wax off of a knife, I just tossed the entire thing in to melt.
The scent is beautiful and bright, a lovely blend of florals and fruits.  I sense a hint of musk and some sort of perfumy aroma. I would have preferred a little less musk and perfume, with a little more clean, or with a touch of vanilla. 

Wedding Day is a scent that reminds me of a happy summer day. I would love to know the specific notes but the description doesn't say.
The throw was good, but not amazing.  I enjoyed the scent, but probably won't purchase this one from Yankee again.
I would much rather support small businesses, so if a small mom and pop vendor sold something similar, I would buy it.


****As a disclaimer I'm going to warn you. I don't recommend you do this with a cheap candle. I received a cheap drugstore pillar candle as a gift and tried to melt it in my tart burner the same way.  I didn't have any problems while it was burning, but when I attempted to take out the wax it was stuck. Even in the freezer for an hour it wouldn't come out. I began digging it out with a spoon, then realized I slightly damaged my burner. (if you notice on some of the photos of my white burner, there is a small darkened spot in the center where I scratched it.) I ended up having to remelt the wax and pour it on newspapers in my garbage can. Washing the rest out of my burner is not an experience I would like to repeat.
But if you are a little apprehensive on melting a tart or cutting a candle, don't worry. I have not had any trouble with good quality wax. I've melted Yankee and Slatkin & Co with not problems whatsoever.****

The Guilt Candle.

Tonight I bring to you....my Guilt Candle. I'm sure everyone has had one. That candle you thought you would adore and turned out to be sadly mediocre. A guilt candle is not bad enough to throw away.  You paid good money, and technically there is nothing wrong with it.
So its the candle you burn, not because you want to, but because you feel you should.
So introducing...Beachside. Beachside is made by Slatkin and Co and is described as "A lush, delicate blend of orange blossom, exotic Ylang Ylang and White Musk."
When I first found it in the store, I smelled a slight tang (which must be the Orange Blossom) and thought that it would mature into a full beachy smell when melted.
Once I took it home and lit it, I experienced a problem that so many Slatkin Candles seem to have...drowning wicks. The flame was so low the edges were getting cold and looked like it was abot to go out completely. The only fix I know for this problem is to pour out some of the wax. What a waste! Once the surplus wax was gone the candle burned beautifully, unfortunately I found the scent incredibly boring. The slight zest I got when it was cold was gone. It was a soft, generic scent that I couldn't describe accurately. I honestly don't understand how this is supposed to be a "sandy" smell. Orange blossom, Ylang Ylang and white musk don't remind me of the beach in the slightest.
So it became the candle I burned not because I loved it, but because I paid for it. I burned it from the time I walked in the door to the time I went to bed secretly wishing it would hurry up and be done already. It's very similar to being a little kid, and having to eat your vegetables before you can dig into the ice cream.

Normally when I finish a candle I feel a little disappointed that its gone, but with a Guilt Candle I feel relief. I'm ready to move on and melt something that will get me excited